Slept well, used to the boat now, woke up around 8:30, got ready and up to the cafe for breakfast, then to another cafe for coffee.
We’re getting off the boat for the first time in 6 days, going on an excursion to Kuala Lumpur.
Went to the meeting place on the boat, it was very well organized (they’ve done it a few times before); check in on the stage, get a sticker with a number, sit down and wait for them to call the number then head off down the gangway, swipe your pass and onto a bus. The entire process took about 15 minutes, really efficient.
The bus was supposed to take about an hour to get from the port to KL, took an hour and a half.
Got off the bus, made sure we knew how to get back and headed off to visit the famous Petronas twin towers. It was about a 15 minute walk and we had to ask a couple of times because there were signs but then they just stopped. Got there and saw that it was sold out until 16:00. We had to be back at the bus at 16:30 so didn’t bother, we didn’t want to miss the bus because the boat wouldn’t wait for us. There was another place we wanted to visit, Independence Square, but it was a 30 minute taxi ride there and 30 minutes back, but we decided we didn’t want to feel rushed so decided against it.
Instead we walked back to the shopping mall to get something to eat, we found a Thai seafood place amongst the hundreds of places to eat – there was everything you could want. I had Thai fish cakes and stir fried prawns, Song had soft shell crab and cockles, plus we each had a fruit drink. Cost about $70 AUD which was a bit steep.
Found a Starbucks and had a coffee, walked past every designer brand shop you could think of and a few we’d not heard of. Didn’t buy any Louis Vuitton bags or Hublot watches today.
Wandered around a bit, disappointed that all we saw in Malaysia was the inside of a shopping mall, but tomorrow we’re visiting another spot so it should be more exciting.
Just about to leave when we spotted a Paul’s bakery – one of our favourite chains, from France but has branches all over Europe and beyond and is our go-to place for lunch, so were disappointed we didn’t spot it earlier.
We were told to be on the bus at 16:45, and everyone was on board by 16:50 which was pretty good. If someone wasn’t there by 17:00 the guide said it would leave anyway and we’d have to get a taxi back to the boat. Not sure if they would leave someone behind but you never know.
Driving back we noticed there were a lot of apartment complexes going up, plus a lot that must have been the height of luxury when they were built but now were looking dirty and tired and in poor states of repair. We also saw one that was partially built and abandoned and had trees growing out of it.
The traffic was okay for a while but got heavy when it started to rain. I also noticed that half the drivers were on their phones.
We hit a heavy rain storm on the way back, but it didn’t stop motor cyclists hurtling along, overtaking the bus. Madness.
Got back on time but the storm was raging, thunder and lightning. We went up to the cafe for a sit down after dinner and a couple on a table next to us said they took 2.5 hours getting back from the city and there were buses still not back, so the boat was late departing.
We stop at Penang tomorrow for 2 days and one night, this time it should be more interesting. That’s one good thing about a cruise – you go to bed and when you wake up you are in a different place; no packing up, unpacking or travel to an airport etc.